MEMBERS NEWS

Issue No.35 - November 2009

CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE

I feel like a survivor as I sit here this morning – I’ve survived the wild, wet windy weather of the last couple of days and before that, I survived the manic whirlwind that is World Travel Market – round the world in 4 days was the way they billed it this year. The only trouble is remembering where you are meant to be, then actually getting there on time, or, if contending with the DLR, actually getting there at all. But it was a great event, with some excellent parties around the edge, loads of good leads – and it all kicked off with the best night of all, the Guild’s own Awards dinner on the Sunday night at the Marriott Grosvenor Square, sponsored by the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority, Virgin Holidays and Elite Island Resorts. The photos are up on www.simply-photography.co.uk for those who want to have a look or, if you were there, you would like to order copies. Many thanks to our sponsors, to the raffle sponsors who helped raise £5000 for our chosen charity Action Water, www.actionwater.org.uk, and congratulations to our award winners listed below.

I would like to highlight three here.

The Lifetime Achievement Award goes to someone who, in our opinion literally changes the face of travel – people as eminent as Sir Freddy Laker, Eric Newby, explorer John Blashford-Snell. This year, we were immensely proud to give it to one of our own members, publisher and author, Hilary Bradt, MBE.

Travel Writer of the Year was awarded to Nigel Tisdall and Travel Photographer of the Year to William Gray, who was also runner-up as Travel Writer of the Year and went on to win a further two awards – a truly spectacular night! Many congratulations to you all.

This will be my last Chairman’s message before our AGM in Tenerife in January, so unbelievably early, I wish you a very happy Christmas, prosperous New Year and we look forward to joining you in the New Year for the Guild’s 50th anniversary party – if you would like to be involved, please do get in touch.

Melissa Shales
BGTW Chairman

BGTW ANNUAL AWARD WINNERS - 2009

• Best destination article under 850 words - sponsored by Amtrak
  Mary Anne Evans: A perfect place to bunk off, Metro, Aug 2008.
• Best UK feature over 850 words - sponsored by Superbreak
  William Gray: A wildlife-packed weekend on the Isle of Mull, Wanderlust, Aug 2009
• Best European feature (non-UK) over 850 words - sponsored by Travmedia
  Judy Armstrong: Pony tales, France Magazine, Oct 2008
• Best Overseas Feature Over 850 Words - sponsored by the Caribbean Tourism
  William Gray: Nature on parade, Wanderlust, Mar 2009
• Best Online Writing Award - sponsored by Uganda Wildlife Authority
  Roger Norum: The ethics of travel writing, www.good.is, Aug 2008
• Best Business/Trade Feature - sponsored by Grenada Board of Tourism
  Matthew Teller: A vine romance, CNN Traveller, Mar 2009
• Kenneth Westcott Jones Memorial Award for Best Transport Feature - sponsored by Virgin Trains
  Gary Buchanan: A transport of delight, The Herald, Nov 2008
• Best Guidebook Award - sponsored by First PR
  Mal Rogers: Northern Ireland: Accessible, Contemporary Guides by Local Experts
• The Anne Gregg/Ed Lacy Memorial Award for Best Travel Broadcast - sponsored by First PR
  Carmen Roberts: Scotland Homecoming, broadcast by BBC World Service

NEWS ITEM

The Guild is now on Twitter. You can already get up to the minute BGTW Members’ News via RSS Feed, but if you would like to receive it on twitter, the link to follow is @TravWriters

CELEBRATE 50 YEARS OF THE BRITISH GUILD OF TRAVEL WRITERS IN 2010 BY ADVERTISING IN THE SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF THE YEARBOOK

It is now the time for PR companies to book your clients’ ads, logos and lineage in the anniversary edition of the British Guild of Travel Writers Yearbook 2010, to gain cost-effective promotion in the UK travel media during 2010. Also mini advertorials and banners are available on the website year-round.

There are great options for all budgets, from only £49 for lineage for a full 12 months in the Yearbook and from £85 for a mini advertorial on the website. There are also 1/6th page 50th anniversary panels for £50 in the Yearbook for sponsors and well-wishers of the Guild. For full details of all options and rates contact either Maggie McPhee (see below) or look at the Guild Shop on the website (www.bgtw.org).

Contact Maggie McPhee at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or on 020 7586 2162 for full details and to book your space. The booking and copy deadline for the Yearbook 2010 is 15th December

FAREWELL TO OLD FRIENDS

It is with great regret that we have to announce the deaths, since our last newsletter of two of our older Guild members.

Douglas Dickens really was our oldest members, dying on 28 August at the age of 102. After a long career as a banker, he became a photographer, building up a successful second career and becoming a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society.

Stuart Arnold studied history at Oxford before he too became a banker, working in various far-flung corners of the world where he could indulge a passion for travel, which eventually took over and became a career. He also won a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship, did a stint as an English teacher at a school in Jerusalem, and had a passion for railways. For the last few years of his life, Stuart suffered with appalling ill-health, including brain tumours and a heart condition but remained positive and interested throughout. He died in early November.

MEMBERS NEWS

IDYLLIC ISLANDS TO BUSTLING CITIES

Carole French has been spending the summer focusing on the Greek Islands for Dorling Kindersley, along with Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Istanbul and Frankfurt. Get in touch if any of these destinations are on your schedule. Carole, who is based in Paphos, has completed projects on Cyprus this summer too, including the update of several mainstream guidebooks. Coming up are trips to Morocco for National Geographic, Jordan, Italy, Egypt and the eclectic Jamaica.
Contact: Carole at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.carolefrench.com

FROM HACKNEY TO RIO, BRAZIL VIA AMSTERDAM AND A COLLECTION OF LUXURY ISLANDS

Jane Egginton is author of a popular Hackney blog (www.hackneyhome.blogspot.com). Jane's Michelin guide to Rio has just been published and she is has been commissioned to write two books on Rio and Brazil for AA Publishing. After a long love affair with Brazil, she knows the country intimately, and will be travelling there again in the New Year. Jane is currently writing a book about Amsterdam, also for the AA, and an online 'luxury island collection' guide.
Contact: Jane at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or tel: 07956 934768

AUTUMN SUNSHINE IN FRANCE

September saw French specialist Gillian Thornton exploring the seaside resorts and mountain villages of Basque Country, plus Pau and the Bearn. October brought a welcome return trip to Poitou-Charentes, starting with Angouleme's new comic strip museum and travelling along the Charente valley through Cognac, before exploring the peaceful Marais Poitevin by punt and electric bike. November brings the lovely market town of Uzes and the Pont du Gard aquaduct without the summer crowds.
Contact Gillian at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or tel: 01582 468771

TWITTER LEADS TO ITALIAN JOB

Many of Carlton Reid's 2500+ Twitter followers are in the travel biz. One of them reached out via the 140-character social media service and booked Reid for an Italian video commission. He was commissioned to produce a 5-minute video on a bicycle holiday crossing of Italy. Upscale US tour company Ciclismo Classico said the resulting YouTube video - http://bit.ly/38xiZU - was "brilliant."
Contact Carlton at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/carltonreid

MALTA AND MORE

Juliet Rix has just completed an in-depth guidebook to Malta (coming out in the early summer 2010) so my head and notebooks are full of good stories about this much misunderstood destination and its remarkable 7000-year history and extraordinary prehistory, the small relaxing island of Gozo and tiny Comino. Also still writing about other places of course, including UK stories, history and wildlife, family travel, as well as interviews and general features. Thinking of getting back to some radio/audio work as well - I used to work for the BBC and have a good radio voice.
Contact Juliet at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or tel: 020 74357756

FROM PACK ICE TO PANTANAL

June saw Mike Unwin cruising from Scotland to Spitsbergen, visiting the remote outposts of St Kilda and Jan Mayen and encountering polar bears in the Arctic pack ice. By August he was warming up in Brazil, combing the Pantanal’s vast wetlands for jaguars and giant anteaters, and still finding time for a caipirinha or two on Ipanema Beach. Read about these trips in The Independent and Wanderlust. Meanwhile Mike continues to edit Travel Zambia magazine – 6th edition out this month – and is planning trips to Ethiopia and Swaziland.
Contact: Mike at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or tel: 07775 791556 (note new number)

TRAVEL CHANNEL NEWS

In January 2010 Travel Channel, the UK’s specialist in travel and holiday entertainment, launches THE HOLIDAY SHOW, a brand new studio series mixing holiday and travel chat, looking at the latest trends and stories, finding out how the nation is holidaying, peeking into the travelicious lives of the rich and famous, and bringing back to our tellies all the fun and excitement of getting away from it all.
If you have any press trips you would like covered, a potential story for the show, a possible guest or would like to get involved with a competition or giveaway
Contact Petra Shepherd at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

IRELAND TO ZIMBABWE

Peter Lynch has recently been exploring eco-friendly travel around Ireland - no flying and no car – not that easy, but great fun. Having just returned from an extensive tour around Zimbabwe he found many things much improved – no hyperinflation, plenty of excellent accommodation and a new tourist police force in training. It’s not a package holiday destination or a shopping mecca but if you want national parks with more wildlife than tourists – it’s hard to beat.
Contact Peter at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or tel: 0118 9616402

Robin McKelvie is heading inexorably towards the 40 trips barrier for 2009. Recent trips have included river cruising in Germany and mushroom foraging in Normandy. Iceland and Maldives to come before the end of this year, whilst Robin is also working on books on Scotland for the AA and National Geographic. Averaging 3-4 articles per trip Robin is available for press trips from Feb 2010 onwards, particularly cruise ships.
Contact Robin at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.robinmckelvie.com

GREENLAND, ICELAND AND THE NILE IN STYLE

Laura Dixon is tackling the Route 1 in Iceland (the road that runs all the way round the island) at the end of February, visiting the Design Festival in Reykjavik and taking a day trip to Greenland. She will also be checking out boutique hotels en route, including in Iceland Express' new destination, Akureyri. Laura wrote the Footprint guide to Reykjavik and contributed to the DK Top Ten Iceland guide, out 2010.
She is due to take a five star Nile cruise as a cruise virgin (aged 31) in December and is keen to write about the experience.
Contact Laura at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or tel: 07799 626335

Roly Smith’s feet haven’t touched the ground recently. Following a spring trip to the West of Ireland (including a stay on the Aran Islands), he’s been to Chicago and Illinois; the Julian Alps of Slovenia (including a 6,000-ft ascent and a flight in a motorised glider), and most recently, back across the pond to Washington DC and Virginia, exploring Civil War sites and the Appalachian Trail. Back home, he’s editing the Let’s Stay Peak District website, and following Roly’s successful AA book on Britain’s National Parks, he has recently been contracted to produce another on Britain’s World Heritage Sites.
Contact Roly at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or tel: 01629 812034

FROM KL TO CALAIS

This year Richard Williams visited Australia on a motor-homing trip from Sydney to Brisbane, and stopped off in Malaysia on the way back to have a look at KL and Penang. Also covered the AITO conference for Short Breaks & Holidays in Gdansk, where WW2 started and the Cold War ended. Toured the battlefield of Waterloo, then researched the golf courses of the Algarve and went early Xmas shopping in Calais.
Contact Richard at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or tel: 020 8669 7475

EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO ASK A FLEET STREET TRAVEL EDITOR, BUT NEVER DARED

Ann Bird, (former Executive Features Editor - Travel & Leisure at the Daily and Sunday Express), gives presentations, talks and interactive workshops which 'lift the lid' on: why editors favour certain stories and spike others; what makes the perfect travel press release; the best way to contact a journalist; what drives us mad; what we really think of PRs, and how to make sure your story becomes Big News!
If you have new/inexperienced staff or others who just need a refresher, please get in touch.
Contact Ann at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

SLOVENIA, PARIS, FRANCE AND TURKEY

Steve Fallon is just back from a lengthy stay in Slovenian updating the Lonely Planet guide (and finally climbing Triglav), Steve Fallon will spend most of the spring in Paris and much of France updating guidebooks and some of the summer in Turkey (Thrace, Black Sea Coast, Western Mediterranean).
Contact Steve at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or tel: +44 7787 525098; +44 20 7241 7484

HONG KONG

Penny Watson is an Australian freelance journalist based in Hong Kong. She will be researching the following angles in Nov/Dec: HK’s Private Kitchens (small unlicensed eateries set up in private residences), HK’s Great Outdoors (forget skyscrapers, almost 40 per cent of HK is designated country park or nature reserve), HK Cheap Eats (sidestep global fare and go local in HK’s dumpling & noodle shops) and HK Freebies (tea, tai chi and feng shui – for free).
Contact Penny at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or tel: +852 9232 6017 or visit www.pennywatson.com.au

JUST BACK FROM KYOTO!

Jeremy Hoare is just returned from Kyoto with new images for publication. Let me know what you want and I may well have it!
Contact Jeremy at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

MOUNTAIN HIGH

From Ladakh to Ben Nevis, from Annecy to Wales, the mountains are calling, including the world's highest road pass, a mere 5602 metres tackled last summer. Next is Madeira, a more gentle affair, maybe, followed by two weeks in Tobago where, I'm told, there are more mountains to explore, jungle a bonus and Trinidad on the doorstep.
Contact Solange Hando at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

WTM...COULD THIS BE YOUR ALTERNATIVE ONE-STOP SHOP ?

Ken Bennett group travel correspondent for Trinity-Mirror Regionals reaches more than five million readers every week (see web link). For inclusion in his 2010 travel schedule and to maximise your media opportunities, send an email marked: 'TRAVEL 2010' to: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or call to discuss your ideas contact Ken on tel: 07802 966 922.

AWARD-WINNING PHOTOGRAPHER IN INDIA

Karoki Lewis will be spending 3 months in India completing a book project on Delhi and spending time with his wife and small children in Goa - perfect for family beach holiday photography!
Contact Karoki at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.karokilewis.com

HAT'S OFF TO PANAMA

Sarah Woods is currently working on several broadcast projects connected to Panama Canal’s 100-year anniversary the current $US56-billion canal expansion. Over 15,000 vessels transit the jungle-flanked inter-oceanic waterway each year – around 5% of the world’s seagoing trade. Sarah will be interviewing the Embera tribesfolk who live in mud-and-thatch settlements in the watershed, cruise-goers, canal-workers, sailors, descendents of the 20,000 men who lost their lives during the canal’s construction and the great-grandson of Richard Halliburton: who swam the canal in 1928, paying a $US0.26 toll.
Contact Sarah at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or tel: 07774 457270 or visit www.sarahwoods.co.uk

CHICAGO, LONDON, PORTUGAL'S DOURO VALLEY, LANGUEDOC-ROUSSILLON

Donna Dailey is travelling to Chicago in November, researching articles and updating the AA CityPack Chicago guide. In December she starts writing London Yesterday & Today, a coffee-table book featuring historical photos. Anecdotes and feature material on London landmarks welcome. Recent trips include Portugal's Douro Valley where she trod grapes for the port wine harvest, the vineyards of Languedoc-Roussillon, and the Agatha Christie Festival in Torquay.
Contact Donna at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

FROM WINE TO THE WINDY CITY

Mike Gerrard is spending most of November in and around Chicago, updating an AA/Fodor's guide and collecting material for website stories. He is also writing a guide to Paris in the Yesterday and Today series, and writing about crime fiction for the HarperCollins website. Recent trips included Dorset, Torquay, treading grapes in Portugal and visiting vineyards in Languedoc. Four months in Arizona and the rest of the SW USA beckon in 2010.
Contact Mike at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

CUMBRIA FOR CHILDREN

David Atkinson's latest guidebook, Cumbria with Kids, will be published by Footprint spring 2010. It features the best of the family-friendly attractions in Britain's favourite national park. Meanwhile, forthcoming newspaper and magazines assignments include climate-changed Copenhagen (Express), trekking and homestays in southern Turkey (Wanderlust) and Celtic history on the Gower (Coast). Open to PR ideas but strong angles only; multimedia commissions welcome.
Contact: David at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or tel: 07974 390436 or visit www.atkinsondavid.co.uk http://atkinsondavid.blogspot.com

TWO NEW ISTANBUL GUIDEBOOKS

Tristan Rutherford and Kathryn Tomasetti have been commissioned to write two guidebooks about Istanbul, Europe’s hip City of Culture. The first title is a 280pp first edition from a prestigious US publisher; the second is a 270pp update of Istanbul's leading travel guide. Tristan and Kathryn write for The Guardian, Independent and several glossy magazines from all over Turkey.
Contact them at www.rutherfordtomasettipartners.com or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Judy Armstrong is celebrating two awards. Best Travel Feature from the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild for Sea to Source, an account of a cycle ride along the Loire river. The judges said: "Not a word was wasted, the writing was evocative, vividly descriptive, poetic in places, and showed a writer with a natural gift for words." Judy also won the prestigious Best European Feature from the BGTW for her article on an equine transhumance: shepherding 80 horses from the snowy peaks of the Pyrenees, to the lowlands near Carcassonne. She is currently working on the sequel: the horses’ return.
Contact Judy at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or tel: 01751 417371

NEW YORKER WRITES ABOUT NEW YORK

Roger Norum just won a BGTW award for Best Online Travel Feature and has been shortlisted for a Kingsley Travel Photographer of the Year award. He is penning and shooting upcoming features for the Sunday Express, Olive Magazine, Blue Wings and Cara Magazine on the following destinations: New York, Istanbul, Bruges, Nepal and Tenerife. Roger is also currently pitching stories on Rajasthan, the Canadian Maritimes and learning to sail in the Caribbean.
Contact Roger at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or tel: +44 7525 006 807 or view www.norums.com

BRITANNIA SUPERIOR

A 2009 Travel Press Award Nominee, David Cawley continues to find stories within the UK and is currently working on the Isle of Man, Ribble Valley, an Inner Hebrides cruise and Snowdonia where he was given the opportunity to drive a steam train. He also presents a weekly Internet radio show focusing on travel and food and continues to provide copy content for a number of holiday brochures.
Contact David at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

FROM CLOVES TO CAVIAR

Carol Wright has just visited the spice island of Zanzibar with a side trip to a new lodge in the Serengeti which has the best wine list in East Africa. Next up is Bordeaux in mid January being shown round his native haunts by a leading London chef including visiting a caviar farm. On a more personal note, am now running my local history society so anyone with ideas for speakers or places in the Oxfordshire area would be welcome.
Contact Carol at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or tel: 01608 677246

FRANCE, SPAIN AND THE 'DAM

It's been a year of guidebook revisions for Wales-based writer Victoria Trott. After her annual visit to the French Riviera in May, she spent the summer revising Thomas Cook guides to Costa Blanca, Ibiza and Mallorca. This was followed by a three-week tour around Brittany's coast in September to update AA Essentials Brittany. Next stop is Amsterdam at the end of November to check out the new Hermitage Museum before heading off to the French Alps in January.
Contact Victoria at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or tel: 07989 987867

BLACK FOREST CAKE AND OFFBEAT ALGARVE

Kerry Christiani has recently been testing cake and hiking trails in the Black Forest for Lonely Planet Germany. She is looking for unusual ideas that go beyond golf and beaches for the AA Essential Algarve guide she will be updating in January 2010. Kerry is planning to visit Portugal, Austria, France and Tenerife in early 2010.
Contact Kerry at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

SERBIAN SOJOURN - LAURENCE MITCHELL

Having finished writing Go Slow Norfolk & Suffolk for Bradt/Alastair Sawday to be published in May 2010, Laurence Mitchell has recently travelled to Serbia to research the third edition of his Bradt guide to that country. As well as urban exploration in Belgrade and Novi Sad, he also found time for hiking the Stara Planina Mountains in the east and savouring the secessionist architecture of Subotica in the north.
Contact Laurence at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or tel: 01603 614619 or visit www.laurencemitchell.com

CROATIA AWARD

Rudolf Abraham recently picked up another award from the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild, this time in the best outdoor feature category, for a piece on Croatia’s Velebit mountain range. Rudolf has been photographing Croatia for more than ten years, and his collection of images ranges from remote mountain areas and national parks to historic architecture, and general travel/lifestyle shots. He recently updated the Bradt Croatia guide, his own Cicerone Croatia guide and the World Travel Guide to Santiago, and is currently working on a guide to trekking in Torres del Paine national park in Chile.
Contact Rudolf at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or tel: 07789 936507 or visit www.rudolfabraham.co.uk

STEEL SAFARI – ACROSS AFRICA BY TRAIN

Melissa Shales is just back from Kenya, on the first leg of her Cape-Cairo journey (OK she started in the middle), next leg Sudan and Egypt in Jan; Tanzania south to South Africa in Feb/Mar. Assisted by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, she is researching a history of the railways in Africa. She is amassing huge amounts of amazing material and looking for commissions to help fund the project and help on the ground. She will also be writing travel along the way. Follow her adventures on her website and blog, www.steel-safari.co.uk and on twitter, @melissashales
Contact Melissa at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Members News is published quarterly by the British Guild of Travel Writers and is edited by Peter Lynch. We'd like to hear from you and find out what you think about our newsletter. Send any suggestions or comments you may wish to make to the editor on email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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British Guild of Travel Writers Tel: 01747 820455 or 020 8144 8713; web: www.bgtw.org

© The British Guild of Travel Writers, November 2009